Monday, May 18, 2009

LONG ISLAND MODULAR – A BUSINESS APPROACH TO BUILDING MODS

There have been a few builders over the years that I have singled out for recognition in our industry such as Harris Woodward of FinishWerks and Terry Thon of Home Crafters. 

I got an email a couple of months ago from Jonathan Davidson, a builder on Long Island in NY saying that he was a reader of this blog and thanked me targeting modular builders and their factories.  I started checking him out and found what I can only describe as a true phenomenon in this business, especially during this housing recession.  I wrote to Vic DePhillips, President of Signature Custom Homes in Moosic, PA, the mod factory that supplies him, to learn about this young man (everyone is younger than me!). 

So here is his story in his own words followed by a comment from from Vic DePhillips.  Hope you enjoy his story.

Everyone knows the news about the recession, the stock market and the local economy. The economy in one-way or another affects everyone. Some people are seeing opportunities and acting upon them. Others are in survival mode. Long Island Modular Homes is having great success in a poor housing market. Why is Long Island Modular Homes the top builder of modular homes for Signature Building Systems of Pa LLC?

Long Island Modular Homes is in the business of building Modular Homes. The business team members have been building Modular Homes for eight years. Our success can be credit to many little things done right. Simply put we are always learning about how to do things better. The company does not operate on the principle of, “that is they way we have always done it.” Most people who have been working at a job for ten years have one year of experience ten times over, instead of multiple years of learning.

The company and its employees are always learning how to do things more effectively. This applies to marketing, selling, designing, engineering, product selection, applications and permitting, value engineering, and site completion.

The company has completed five projects this year and is currently contracted to build an additional ten single-family homes. It is projected that another 6-8 homes will be contracted this year.

We have completed some very interesting projects this year. We delivered and set the first modular home on Fire Island. Barging the crane and house to Fire Island was both challenging and exciting. In addition we completed our first project in New Jersey and are currently building the second green certified house on Long Island. The house is registered with NAHB Green to achieve Gold Certification.

Building Energy Star Certified homes and green certified homes is interesting, stimulating, motivating and exciting. Learning about green products and choosing which products are right for certain homeowners and projects is fun. Working in an atmosphere and industry that is interesting, exciting, developing and changing is enjoyable. This excitement and interest is shared with all our customers and potential customers.

One key reason for our success is our relationship with our partnering factories. Our partnering factories are Signature Building Systems and Haven Homes. In regard to our relationship with Signature Building Systems it is critical that we build individual relationships within all the all the plants departments. If we have a question, issues, or need assistance to achieve our goals we know who to call and what coarse of action to take. Factory jumping does not work. This is true due to the fact that most people bring their problems and issues from one factory to another.

One of my favorite things to do is to talk about business ideas and concepts with Victor DePhillips the owner of Signature. He is involved with his business on a daily basis. I have witnessed Mr. DePhillips on the roof of several of our projects checking the engineering, design and build. His concern for the finished project and engineering details is unmatched in the industry. His plant, engineering department and sales team allows us to continually improve designs, build capabilities, product implementations and build quality.

Learning is the key to success in any business. Recently the entire company went to plant to view and understand the plant’s abilities and the capabilities of modular construction. I value the effort and option of everyone working at the company. I believe it is import to have company unity in order to achieve our goals.

There is limited information and learning tools in the modular industry. With publications closing due to lack of funds I am always searching for information to read. The best information I have found is your blog. One needs to be able to think and implement new ideas into their business. You provide builders with a lot of information in different areas that will lead to success. Our company philosophy of providing customer value is stated throughout our new website www.limodular.com. I owe you a debt of gratitude and sincere thank you for providing such valuable information.

I am proud of our company accomplishments and bright future. I look forward towards improving our products and expanding our company’s capabilities and geographic area. The future will bring success for the modular industry and Long Island Modular Homes.

Here is what Vic has to say about Jonathan:

Gary,

Jonathan brings a unique perspective to the building business. He is not a builder by education, experience or proclamation, but what he is, is a good business man. He learned what  he needed to know about his marketplace, competition, the building business and his supplier. He took all this knowledge and applied it to his business experience and evolved Long Island Modular into one of our largest builders. He made mistakes in the beginning, like all beginners do, but learned from his mistakes, paid his dues and recovered quickly. He does not sell price in this market, believe it or not. What he does do very well is to qualify his buyers and supplies them a product to suit their needs and pocket. His understanding of the manufacturing business has helped him develop a good relationship with us by understanding what should and should not be done in our facility.

Vic

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that he just closed a contract on a 5,700 sq ft home over the weekend!  Congrats Jonathan.

Posted by Coach at 3:55 PM